Cherokee Bluff moves to 19-0 with a walk-off thriller

FLOWERY BRANCH — Winning breeds confidence.

Trailing East Forsyth by a run entering the bottom of the eighth, there wasn’t any doubt in the Cherokee Bluff dugout with their perfect 18-0 record on the line.

The Bears loaded the bases with an intentional walk, single and bunt single and then won the game when Landon Kemp sent a rocket into center that scored a pair of runs to walk off the Broncos 4-3 in eight innings.

“We’re confident in any game,” Bears head coach Jeremy Kemp said. “We do a good job hitting the ball in big situations like that. We made it happen tonight. That was a great job by all of those guys.”

Bears starting pitcher Brady Stephens stymied the Broncos for much of the night, but left the mound frustrated after exiting the game in the sixth with the game knotted at 2-2. Stephens had allowed just three hits and an unearned run through the first five innings before a rough sixth.

His night ended after East Forsyth’s Wyatt Barden lined an RBI single into left to tie the game at 2-2.

The Bears had a chance to get the lead right back in the bottom of the sixth after a two-out double off the bat of Ethan England. Garrett Harper drove in England with a single to left in the second inning, but was unable to come through again after grounding out to short to end the inning.

With Jacob Vokal in to pitch for the Bears and Trey Farr still pitching for the Broncos after six innings of six-hit, two-run ball, neither team scored in the seventh to send the game into extras.

Looking to play spoiler, Matthew Lyons led off the eighth inning with a solo homer to center to give the Broncos its first lead of the game, 3-2.

But their celebrations were short-lived.

After intentionally walking Bryce England in his first three at-bats on the night, Broncos head coach Kyle Counts elected to do it a fourth to lead off the bottom of the eighth.

The strategy worked the first three times for Counts and the Broncos, but with the game-tying run already on first, the strategy quickly went south after a Brett House single past third.

A perfectly placed bunt from Kaden Thompson then loaded the bases for the Bears with nobody out, setting up Kemp’s walk-off winner to center.

After a brilliant first seven innings pitched by Farr, who held the Bears to just two runs, the sophomore was awarded the loss. Vokal, who was dominant outside of the solo homer, earned his fifth win of the season after striking out six of the 10 batters that he faced.

“Farr, he’s all heart and he had an unreal game,” Kemp said. “I can’t say enough about how he kept us off balance. I’m proud of our guys. If you count Bryce’s intentional walk, that’s four great at-bats in a row down by one run.”

The Broncos chose to take the bat out of the hands of England after his monster game on Monday night. England went 4-for-4 with two homers and five RBIs against the Broncos on Monday, and while the strategy to intentionally walk him worked for a while, it was only a matter of time before the Bears made them play, Kemp said.

“Brett has been awesome for us this year,” Kemp said. “He’s got 6-7 home runs and they’re not going to be able to continue to do that and get away with it. It was eventually going to get to them and we just didn’t make them pay until the end this game.”

With the win, the Bears improve to 19-0 on the season and more importantly, 10-0 in Regoin 8-4A play. The loss drops the Broncos to 12-8 on the season and 8-5 in region play.